Richard Jones, host of Vanguard Radio talks with Johnathon (Lee) Obst, President and Managing Director, Rockwell Collins Canada, a Collins Aerospace Company, of the capabilities of the newly formed company.

Lee joined Collins Aerospace (formerly Rockwell Collins) in 2000 as a Program Manager in the Government Systems Airborne Solutions portfolio and shortly afterwards transitioned in to a business development role. Since 2000, Lee has held a variety of business development leadership roles in the Airborne Solutions portfolio with increasing responsibilities. In 2010, Lee was appointed as the Senior Director, Marketing for Collins Aerospace Government Systems.

In 2011, Lee was appointed as the President and Managing Director of Collins Aerospace based in Ottawa, Ontario. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the Canadian operations and production facilities in Ottawa and providing shared services for the Montreal operations.

Prior to joining Collins Aerospace, Lee served for 21 years as a test pilot and fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Hear more about Collins Aerospace, which was created in 2018 by bringing together UTC Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins, the plans for growth in Canada, programs that Collins Aerospace has the capabilities for, training,         and what to expect from Collins Aerospace at CANSEC.

Visit Collins Aerospace at booth 1103 at CANSEC to learn more.

Collins Aerospace is a leader in technologically advanced and intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defence industry. Created in 2018 by bringing together UTC Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins, Collins Aerospace has the capabilities, comprehensive portfolio and expertise to solve customers' toughest challenges and to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global market. 

In addition to being a pioneer in the development of world class avionics, aircraft interiors, aerostructures, power and controls as well as mechanical and mission systems – which are delivered by 70,000 employees worldwide – Collins also has a renowned global service and support capability. This is demonstrated locally with our longstanding relationships with many of the world’s airlines, aircraft manufacturers and national defence organizations, including the Canadian Armed Forces.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with Jean-Claude Siew, Vice President for Technology and Simulation for Bluedrop Training & Simulation Inc.

Jean-Claude has a deep understanding of training and simulation and management leadership, which he accumulated over 20 years of working in the aerospace and defence industry. He has a strong focus on growing Bluedrop Training & Simulation Inc. through technology leadership and by further developing the products and services in working closely with large aerospace and defence OEMs.

Bluedrop Training & Simulation Inc. (BTS) operates within the defence and aerospace industry by designing and developing highly specialized, high performance, tactical training for front line operators of equipment working in complex environments and high-risk situations. This includes, training systems needs analysis, custom courseware development, virtual simulation training devices, and ongoing training support for in service support.

Hear more about Bluedrop, some of the lessons learned in working with the Canadian Armed Forces to shape future courseware and training, developing training programs for a variety of different systems on the Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels and the role that it will play in helping the Canadian Coast Guard to effectively operate these vessels.

Jean-Claude talks about how Bluedrop provides training solutions for other countries. He shares some of the takeaways of working with foreign organizations that can be applied to Canada and vice versa.

Check out Bluedrop at CANSEC at booth 1215 to learn more.

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with Ken Peterman, President, Government Systems at Viasat, a global communications company. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate.

In April 2013, Ken joined Viasat as Vice President, Government Systems. Just over a year later in June 2014, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Government Systems, and in May 2017, he assumed his current position as President, Government Systems.

Ken has over 30 years of experience in general management, systems engineering, strategic planning, portfolio management, and business leadership in the aerospace and defense industries.

In the show, he talks about how private sector is now developing technologies that are being adopted to fit defence, which is a reverse of what was done previously. This is an opportunity for defence forces to tap into and leverage the accelerated trajectories of these technologies. As in the case with Viasat, they are not just building these technologies for commercial markets but for defence as well.

Ken talks about how it is about bring forward cutting edge technologies to serve both markets in an affordable manner. This helps armed forces and benefits the tax payers as there is no R&D cost associated with it as it was already funded by private sector in the development of these technologies. 

Ken was selected as a Vanguard Game Changer, check out his profile on VanguardCanada.com to learn more about the leadership initiatives that he is employing to lead Viasat.

To learn more about Viasat, go to viasat.com.

Since 2008, Babcock has been operating in Canada in working with committed experts to design, build, manage, operate and maintain assets vital to the delivery of critical public services. Globally, the company is a 35,000-strong organization, which helps customers around the world to improve the capability, reliability and availability of their most critical assets within the key market sectors of Marine, Land, Aviation, and Nuclear.

Recently, Babcock was awarded a contract for aerial firefighting by the Government of Manitoba. This Wildfire Suppression Services contract is for a period of ten years. 

In this episode of Vanguard Radio, J. Richard Jones talks with Mike Whalley, President of Babcock Canada and Jake Jacobson, Vice-President of Babcock Canada about this contract and the operation of Babcock in Canada. 

Hear an update on the Victoria-class submarine program, lessons gleaned from this program that can be applied to future naval in-service support programs, lessons from working in the United Kingdom and the Australasia regions in incorporating those in Canada, some of the services they provide in the different sectors, the recent contract by the Manitoba government for aerial firefighting services and the future for Babcock Canada.

To learn more about Babcock Canada, go to https://babcockcanada.com.

Calian, a provider of business and technology services and solutions to industry, public and government in the health, training, engineering and IT services domains and also in satellite networks, recently announced that it has been selected to deliver a significant training contract for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Army Simulation Centre. The Training and Support Services Contract is valued about $170 million, running over a full nine-year period. 

In this episode, J. Richard Jones talks with Kevin Ford, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calian about this re-win for the company and what it means to Calian. Hear about where Calian fit into Strong, Secure, Engaged, their innovation agenda, their #DontLetGoCanada space campaign and what we can expect from the company in the future.

To learn more, go to https://www.calian.com/en.

Thanks for listening.